


Friction

by TheAttagirl



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, M/M, Quarantine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23803675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAttagirl/pseuds/TheAttagirl
Summary: Living with each other during these trying times causes some friction for TK and Carlos
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 2
Kudos: 160





	Friction

TK’s arm jerked as he lifted the oddly light carton of milk. Already angry, he opened the lid and confirmed his suspicion. There was maybe half a teaspoon of milk and he tossed the carton across the room in the general direction of the recycling bin, making his boyfriend Carlos jump in surprise.

“Is it so hard to throw out the container when the milk is gone?” he gritted out.

Confusion and upset crossed Carlos’s face, as he wiped away the sweat from a long day. They had both just got off their shift. His expression settled on angry as he shouted back “Almost as hard as putting your boots on the shoe rack so no one trips on them.”

TK responded in an even louder tone of voice, “Well if someone were less obsessed with me taking off my boots the second I enter the door...”

“Excuse me, those boots are filthy and it has been proven they can spread germs all over the house. I will not apologize for having decent hygiene.” Carlos shook his head throwing his hands up in frustration “I’m not doing this. I’m gonna take a shower, come find me when you can have a civil conversation.” and with that he stomped out of the room.

TK was lost for a minute, feeling like he’d just stumbled on a missed stair. He shook his own head, muttering “Bullshit” and returning to the fridge for something to drink.

\----------------------

It was several hours later when Carlos sat alone on their couch, staring at the TV while some program he couldn’t name played in the background. He tried not to dwell on the petty little argument earlier, but he was not helped by the size of his apartment they had decided to live in together during the lockdown. Owen was quarantined in the house he and TK lived in due to his Chemo treatments, but TK couldn’t leave his team two men down, so this had seemed an ideal arrangement. 

They had been helped by the fact that as “essential workers” neither of them spent much time in the apartment, and were usually exhausted by their work when they got home. Maybe that exhaustion was a part of the problem. They hadn’t fucked in almost a week, dropping next to one another in bed to toss and turn through a rough exhausted night (or day, or weird few hours grabbed between irregular shifts) of very little, poor quality sleep.

Whatever the cause, it was hard to forget the disagreement when he could hear TK pacing in the kitchen talking to someone on the phone. He stayed far enough away not to hear what exactly he was saying, offering what little privacy was possible in the one bedroom apartment, but he could hear the frustrated tone. There was also the fact that he had been on the phone for almost two hours now. Carlos had never witnessed TK having such a long phone call and the curiosity was almost too tempting.. 

In fact he was so caught up in trying to figure his strange boyfriend out, he completely missed the man coming into the living room and standing before him, holding out his keys.

“Could you hold these for me?” TK jingled the keys, looking oddly uncomfortable.

The bizarreness of this behavior left Carlos speechless for a second. He slowly reached out his hand and took the keys, drawing out “OKayyyy, can I ask why?”

He thinks this may be the wrong question to ask as TK flinches, pulling up the string of his hoodie to chew on. “I, uh, my uh sponsor thought it was best if I asked someone I trusted to hold these for the night.”

Carlos immediately felt guilty for wanting to eavesdrop on such a private call. “Of course I can keep these for now.” he weighed what he had to say next, but it seemed important “Can I ask what is up? I mean, why now? Did something happen on your shift?”

TK erupted from his chair, almost vibrating with unexpected energy “No. it was a completely ordinary day and that’s the problem.”

Carlos was completely lost now, staring at the man in front of him blankly as he tried to interpret that sentence in a way that made sense. “What did you want to happen?”

TK dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. “It’s stupid.” he mumbled to the floor, refusing to make eye contact. “I know I should be thankful, we’re safe, Dad’s safe, Austin hasn’t been as badly hit with all this, but I see my old team on social media, and .. I just feel like I should be helping them.”

“You’re not...” Carlos could hear the fear in his voice but the thought of the man he cared about, maybe even loved, crossing the country to join the teams working in what looked like a genuine hell hole right now, was unthinkable.

“No, I can’t leave my dad, my team is already down a man, besides,” at this his expression was almost sheepish “I would worry about you if I was so far away.” All emotion left his face, shut down like a mask, and he added “Besides, for my sobriety, I can’t.”

“Can’t what? Go to New York?

“I know the opioid epidemic is terrible here, but .. If we were in the city taking my keys would do nothing, there is no where I could stay where I couldn’t walk to a dealer, and I knew all the best spots.” He paused and corrected himself “The worst spots.”

Carlos didn’t think he could bear to see the look on TK’s face, but if he could bear feeling this way, Carlos could bear to stand by him. He reached out and caught TK’s hand where it was twitching with his hood. “Hey. I know your old team would love to have you, but you are doing good. You don’t need to do any more than you are doing. You moved out of your house to save your father’s health, you go out everyday to help this city. Our numbers haven’t reached New York levels thank God but we definitely need everyone working here. You are making a difference.” He waited, not speaking or looking away until TK finally met his eyes. 

They held eye contact until TK leaned forward. For a second Carlos thought he was going in for a kiss, but he rested his head on Carlos’s shoulder, breathing in his neck. They stayed like that, a frozen tableau of care, until Carlos decided this needed to move to their bed. TK followed like a docile animal, no thought showing in his face as Carlos gently stripped him down to his boxer briefs laying him down, stripping himself, and curling up behind him. TK finally moved, pulling Carlos’s hand to his mouth and pressing a kiss to his palm, before laying his head down and falling quickly into a deep sleep.


End file.
